The 25th New York City Marathon was Sunday, November 6, 1994. 29,735 runners finished the race that day, including an athlete from Mexico named German Silva.
At the 25.5-mile mark in the race, Silva did something he will likely never forget. He veered off course. That was a massive mistake considering he was leading the race at the time.
Image the scene. Silva took a wrong turn. Onlookers were shocked. Quickly, a policeman yelled trying to get his attention. Another frantically pointed him back toward the course. Suddenly, Silva realized what had happened; he read it on the faces of those who watched. He immediately reversed direction and returned to the race.
Not only did he return to the race, but he caught and passed the runner who had taken the lead – his teammate, Benjamin Paredes. He went on to win with a time of 2:11:21.
Silva later said that he wasn’t sure why he took the wrong turn. Maybe it was a truck. There’s usually a lead truck. Or maybe he saw another runner. He wasn’t certain what happened. All he knew was he had taken a wrong turn.
German Silva could have given up once he recognized what had happened. He could have thrown up his hands and walked away. Surely there was a bench in Central Park suitable for him to sit down and talk to himself about how dumb he was for getting off track. But he didn’t. He got back in the race.
What a helpful example Silva is for you and me. As Christians, we all take wrong turns. It’s a part of our fallen nature. We sin against our holy God. And when that happens, a lot goes through our minds. It’s a time that calls for caution. God’s honor is at stake, and so is our spiritual well-being.
Here are a few suggestions. Things that I must remind myself of when I’ve turned from God to my own selfish desires. Maybe they will be of help to you.
1. When you sin, be careful not to believe the lies of the evil one. He is so quick to come and whisper in our ears, things like, “You might as well give up. You’re a loser.” The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10a). Satan wants to make the bad situation worse. Remember, his goal is to destroy you.
2. You shouldn’t listen to your own negative thoughts. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy, and before we know it, we’re on that bench in Central Park. One old writer talked about us being careful to talk to ourselves in a truthful manner; not listen to the lies that seem to come to our mind so easily.
3. You can’t dwell on your past failures. We all have a long list of sins that bring us shame. It’s helpful to glance in that direction. There are certainly things that God can teach us as we look back, but we shouldn’t live there.
It’s critical that we go to the Bible to remind ourselves how God wants us to deal with the sin in our lives. Our Father is for us and not against us. Thankfully, He has a plan in place, a right way to deal with wrong turns. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
With a repentant heart, we acknowledge that we’ve sinned against our heavenly Father. Then, we get back in the race. We rejoin that field of wrong-turning, mercy- receiving Christians, and hopefully, we move ahead with an even greater determination to “run with endurance the race set before us.”
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-3).
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).
